spandrel means the space (often more or less triangular) between the outer curve of an arch (the extrados) and a straight-sided figure that bounds it; the space between two contiguous arches and a straight feature above them. It carries an Arena rating of 1665, earned across 24 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, spandrel ranks #342 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #681 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #1,095 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,147 of 17,128 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
Why “spandrel” is a great word
The roughly triangular architectural space formed between the outer curve of an arch and the rectangular frame enclosing it, or between adjacent arches. From Anglo-Norman *spaundre*, of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old French *espandre* ('to expand, extend, spread'); first used in an evolutionary biology context by Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin in 1979. Unlike a 'pendentive'—a specific, curved, structural support for a dome—a spandrel is the general, often flat, leftover space; unlike a 'byproduct'—any incidental result—it is, in evolutionary biology, the trait that exists not because it was selected for, but because it is the necessary consequence of building something else. It is the ornate, tessellated mosaic in a Byzantine archway, the blank panel on a Brutalist facade awaiting a mural, and the human chin—said to be not an adaptation but the byproduct of shrinking jaws. The word names the beautiful, inevitable filler, the structural poetry of happenstance.
Etymology
From a diminutive in -el of Anglo-Norman spaundre, of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old French espandre (“to expand, extend, spread”). More at spawn, expand. In the field of biology first used by Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin.
noun
- The space (often more or less triangular) between the outer curve of an arch (the extrados) and a straight-sided figure that bounds it; the space between two contiguous arches and a straight feature above them.
- Horizontal member between the windows of successive storeys of a tall building.
- The triangular space under a stair; the material that fills the space.
- An oriental rug having a pattern of arches; the design in the corners of such a rug, especially in a prayer rug.
- A phenotypic characteristic that evolved as a side effect of an adaptation in response to evolutionary pressure.
- soffit (usually used to describe metal or corrugated plastic types of roof soffit)
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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